UAE minister says ‘solid political will’ required to fight terrorism

The UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Kuwait, Tunisia and France and has called for a strong coalition to fight terrorist elements.

In a statement run by state news agency WAM, the minister said that the attacks indicated the severity of the challenge ahead and required a solid political will and a strong international coalition to fight against the takfiri ideology.

“These crimes, which bring in new widows and orphans, destabilise peace, security and safety, are being perpetrated in the name of our tolerant religion, which remains innocent since Islam is a religion of peace and affection which urges peoples and nations to promote interaction, cooperation and solidarity with each other. No extremist or deviant takfiri ideology can represent Islam,” said Gargash.

“Confronting the appalling, murderous and evil terrorism rests with rallying the international community’s efforts to deter the extremist and takfiri ideology which lays the fertile ground for terrorism and justifies its crimes.”

He added that the international community will need to cooperate closely on a long-term basis to dry up sources of terrorism and promote intellectual awareness to defeat deviant thoughts.

The Middle East and specifically the Gulf countries have seen a rise in the number of attacks mounted by radical Islamist groups on Shi’ites and western expats.

Recently a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers in a Shi’ite mosque in Saudi Arabia while wounding 90 more people.

The mosque attacks were preceded by a shootout in November 2014 where ISIL sympathisers gunned down eight people in a Shi’a village in Al Ahsa region.

A number of western expats have also been the target of the attacks by jihadist elements as groups such as ISIL prompted their followers to attack foreigners in the Gulf countries.

In order to counter the wave of radicalism, Gulf countries have also taken a more pro-active role in the regional affairs.

Most GCC members are part of the US-led coalition conducting air strikes in Iraq and Syria, known to be the strongholds of ISIL.

The Gulf countries are also leading the air strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.